Missing
by PattiL61
Summary: Chapter 6 (Conclusion) is up (8-31-03) - Hope you enjoyed this short story. Please R&R.
1. Chapter 1

Missing  
  
Chapter 1  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Bosco sat back in the chair, letting out a breath and outstretching his arms over his head. He'd just finished compiling the last of his paperwork on all of his arrests during the blackout. He thought back to when he'd found Faith coming out of the medical building, carrying Fred over her shoulder. He felt the tightness in his stomach again at the remembrance. The look of desperation on her face scared him to death.  
  
He was brought back to the present with the sound of the gruff voice of the officer working Lock-Up. "Boscorelli!"  
  
"Yeah," he said, the fatigue heavy in his voice.  
  
"You about done with those reports? I wanna get the hell out of here," the officer asked.  
  
"Yeah. Just got finished. Griffith been kicked loose yet?" Bosco asked him,  
  
"Yeah, about a half hour ago. Never thought I'd see the day," he said trailing off as he gathered up the stack of reports from the desk in front of Bosco.  
  
"What're you talking about?" Bosco asked, confused.  
  
"The day you'd let some guy holding dope off," he answered.  
  
"Yeah, well, it's complicated," was all Bosco would say.  
  
"Whatever. I'm outta here. Go home, Boscorelli. You look like crap," said the older man.  
  
"Good, 'cause I'd hate for looks to be deceiving," Bosco answered, stifling a yawn.  
  
Bosco was trying to get the energy to get up out of the chair when he saw John Sullivan walk through the door. Sully stopped at the doorway.  
  
"How's Yokas' husband?" he asked Bosco.  
  
"No idea. I picked up her kids and brought them over to the hospital, but then I came back here to do paperwork. She's supposed to call me and let me know," Bosco answered, the words she'd spoken still stinging him. He didn't expect a phone call from her. He'd have to call the hospital later and find out for himself.  
  
"Oh," Sully answered, as an officer passed by quickly, bumping into him. Sully thought that it was odd that Bosco hadn't remained at the hospital with Faith, but the thought was lost when he was hit by the officer. "Hey!" he yelled to the younger cop.  
  
Bosco followed the rookie cop's path to the front desk where Lieutenant Swersky and Captain Anderson were huddled in conversation. "Wonder what that's all about?" Bosco asked Sully, nodding his head in the direction of the group. Sully turned to follow Bosco's gaze.  
  
"I have an idea," he answered and Bosco waited for him to continue. "Long story. Has to do with Chief Hancock, his wife and where Chief Hancock was and who he was with when he got beat up during the riots," Sully told him. Bosco just raised his eyebrows and looked back at the group as a few more officers seemed to be scurrying around.  
  
"How bad's he hurt?" Bosco asked as Sully frowned at the increase in activity.  
  
"Don't know. They hit him in the head with bricks apparently. He was on his way to CT Scan when I left. I'm worried about Davis though," Sully said, frowning.  
  
"He get hurt too?" Bosco asked with concern.  
  
"No," Sully answered quickly. "He's just getting more involved with this Hancock thing than he should," he finished, as more of the upper echelon came into the building.   
  
The Lieutenant came down the hallway and saw Sully and Bosco staring back at him. He stopped next to Sully and, addressing both officers, said, "You two meet me in the roll call room in two minutes.  
  
"Everything okay, Lieu?" Sully asked.  
  
"No. We've got a situation. I'll fill you in when everyone's assembled," he said, hurrying off.  
  
"I don't think I'm liking the sound of this," Bosco said, wearily pulling himself up from his chair. Both officers headed over to the roll-call area, where they joined about ten other officers and the Brass that had arrived a short time earlier.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
TBC... 


	2. Chapter 2

Missing  
  
Chapter 2  
  
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He sat in the darkened storefront, more afraid than he could ever imagine. He moved himself and the other officer behind a counter, hoping that anyone going by would not be able to see them. He hadn't heard any noise from the other officer in quite awhile now, but he checked and the man still had a pulse.  
  
Now, he sat - it seemed like he'd been there for hours - waiting to figure out what to do. He heard groups of angry people going by. He heard the windows of the storefront being broken out. His portable radio, as well as that of his superior officer, was dead - the battery being worn down so that he couldn't call for help. He didn't even know if anyone knew they were missing. He just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and gotten dragged along with the other officer.  
  
He broke out in a cold sweat as the lights turned back on and the room was illuminated. He heard the latest group walking by stop outside the store. Their anger had not abated and they were looking for more things to destroy. He heard sirens in the distance and going by with some regularity and he didn't know if he should chance it and try to flag someone down. He drew his feet in so that they didn't extend beyond the counter, but he dragged his foot through broken glass, making noise and alerting the group outside the store that there was someone there.  
  
"Hey!" yelled someone in an angry voice. "Who's in there?" He didn't answer. "Whoever it is, you better come out. We're fixin' to burn this place to the ground and it don't matter to us if someone's inside or not," the voice warned. He remained silent, unsure of what to do. He looked over for the first time at the man lying alongside him, eyes closed. "At least he doesn't know enough to be afraid," the officer thought to himself as he saw the severity of the other officer's wounds. He was bleeding profusely from the head and a stab wound to his side.  
  
He jumped at the sound of something flying through the air and slamming into the wall above his head. The glass cabinet that was hit by the object shattered, shards of glass falling onto him. He felt some cuts being made on the side of his face and felt a slight trickle of blood from these cuts.  
  
"I said come out of there," yelled the angry voice again. "Buddy, go in there and haul whoever it is out of there," the man ordered.  
  
The officer heard someone entering, the shattered glass crushing further under his step. He knew that they'd kill the other officer for sure if they found him in such a vulnerable condition.  
  
He drew his weapon and readied himself. "Look, I'm a police officer," he said, standing up and steadying his weapon at the group before him. He hoped that the fear didn't show on his face, but he knew otherwise as he watched his hand shake as it held the gun out.  
  
"Whoa," replied the man called Buddy. "We got us a cop, Danny," he called back to the group.  
  
"Oh yeah?" the leader of the group replied. "All by himself, is he?" Danny replied with a chuckle as the group took a step forward together.  
  
The officer tightened his grip on the gun and tried to find something to say that would intimidate this group. He thought back to his training officers and what they would have done just as the fallen officer alongside him let out a groan.  
  
"Look, maybe you'll get me, but not before I take one or two or more of you out first," the officer replied, trying to sound authoritative. No sooner did he get the words out than, without a warning, a bottle was hurled in his direction, striking him on the side of the head and knocking him off balance momentarily - but just long enough for the closest gang member to disarm him. In a split second he was now looking down the barrel of his own gun as a trickle of blood ran down the side of his face, reaching his jaw line and dripping onto his collar.   
  
*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*  
  
"Alright, listen up," Lieutenant Swersky replied as he walked into the roll call room with the rest of the senior officers. Bosco and Sully looked at the faces of the men.  
  
"Why do I think our night is just about to get a lot worse?" Bosco asked redundantly.  
  
"It would appear that way," Sully mumbled in Bosco's direction.  
  
"First of all, thank you for agreeing to stay without me having to order you to. Once again, you prove me right when I say that the officers of the 55th are the most dedicated men and women we have on the force," Swersky said.  
  
"We appear to have two officers missing during the course of the blackout," the Lieutenant said, instantly getting the undivided attention of the officers.  
  
"Sergeant Christopher and Patrolmen Steven Gusler are unaccounted for at this time. Now, that doesn't necessarily mean that they're in trouble, but we aren't able to reach them at their residences and Sergeant Christopher's vehicle is still parked outside," he explained.  
  
"Were they assigned to a sector, Lieu?" Bosco asked from the group.  
  
"No. We believe that Sergeant Christopher took Gusler with him to go help out with control of the City - maybe they answered a call for distress from another officer. We're trying to verify or eliminate that scenario. But, as of right now, we're treating this as a 10-13 - officers in need of assistance. Now, we've worked up a search grid and we'll split you up to search square-by-square. There is still a lot of "unrest" within the City as power is restored fully and traffic jams are cleared up. I want no one - and I repeat no one," the Lieutenant emphasized, looking directly at Bosco, "to go anywhere on their own. You are to stay with your partner and maintain radio communication at all times. Now, see the desk sergeant for your grid assignments and let's get out there and find these officers," the Lieutenant said, dismissing the crew.  
  
As the officers all stood up to file out of the room, Bosco said to Sully, "Christopher and Gusler, they're toast if we don't find them soon." Sully nodded his agreement and they stopped at the desk to get their assignment.  
  
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TBC... 


	3. Chapter 3

Missing  
  
Chapter 3  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"Danny," called a woman's voice from behind the group. Danny turned toward the woman as Buddy held onto Gusler, the gun still trained on him.  
  
"Don't," she said simply.  
  
"What?" Danny replied, not sure of what he was hearing from his girlfriend.  
  
"I said 'don't,'" she told him. "He ain't done nothin' to us. The blackout's over - let's just let them be. That one there on the floor ain't lookin' too good anyway. You know The Man's out lookin' for them. You don't want them comin' up and blamin' you for this guy's murder," she reasoned. Danny stood still, the look of anger in his eyes making her stomach tighten, but she didn't show it. He walked over to her and stood directly in front of her.  
  
"Who d'you think you are, tellin' me my business?" he said, getting right in her face.  
  
"I don't THINK anything. I KNOW that I'm the mother of your baby and I ain't raisin' this kid alone, livin' on welface and waitin' for you to get out of prison. My Mama went to see my Daddy every weekend, draggin' us kids along with her. I ain't puttin' my baby through that," she said, just as angry.   
  
Gusler overheard the conversation and only then noticed that the woman appeared pregnant.  
  
"She's right. We have officers on the way. I contacted them on my radio right before you guys showed up," he lied to the group. He felt the grip from Buddy tighten - not knowing if it was anger or increased nervousness at the knowledge that more cops would be there any minute. As if on cue, sirens were heard approaching in the background.  
  
"Shut up, cop!" Danny yelled, still staring down his girlfriend. After another moment, Danny turned toward Gusler, looking from him to the injured Sgt. Christopher. He slowly walked over to Gusler and said, "You better hope your buddies are comin' for you, cause if not, your toast," he said and then, without warning, he reached up and struck Gusler on the side of the head with something. Gusler's world went black as the man holding onto him let go and he fell to the ground alongside Christopher.  
  
Danny turned and walked past his gang and while staring at his girlfriend said, "Torch it. If they're still alive when they find 'em, so be it," and then continued to walk out of the building.  
  
After a moment, the group sprang to action. Buddy moved Gusler's motionless form behind the counter, out of sight, as a couple of the others set the fires around the store. Everyone took a look around and then left as the smoke began to fill the air and the heat from the flames grew.  
  
Gusler momentarily regained consciousness - long enough to realize that the place was on fire. He tried to get up onto all fours and crawl toward the doorway for help, but the dizziness prevented him from doing so. Twice he made it to his hands and knees only to fall over again. The third time he tried, he removed his radio from his belt and threw it to the doorway - hoping that when fire got there, they'd see it and know that there were officers possibly inside. He didn't know if the radio had made it to its intended destination and his injury prevented him from remaining conscious any longer.  
  
*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^**^  
  
"Okay, guys. We've got another fire burning down the street. We got no backup available for at least 15 minutes. I want one or two guys to stay here. The rest of us will head down there and do what we can. PD is on the way for crowd control. No heroics. If it's abandoned, then we stay the hell outside and fight it that way. We're not gonna lose anybody over this crap," Lieutenant Anderson ordered, as his crew continued sifting through the rubble for hot spots of their present fire  
  
They left two of the junior guys to sift through the rubble and the rest headed down the street on the firetruck to fight the newest fire. They pulled up at the same time as Bosco and Sullivan in 55-David.  
  
As the power came back on and the lights were again working, it seemed to soothe the crowds and they began to disburse. There were only a few groups of people spread along the streets. Another police unit came from the other direction and the officers went about keeping the people back while the fire department did their job.  
  
D.K. and Doherty had just finished hooking up the hydrant and Billy was beginning to work the pump on the truck to force the water through the hose. As D.K. and Jimmy began to advance the hoseline toward the building, Bosco and Sully came over to Lieutenant Anderson.  
  
"You guys seen Sergeant Christopher or Officer Gusler at all tonight?" Sully asked.  
  
"What? Not that I recall. Why?" the Lieutenant asked.  
  
"They're missin'," Bosco said. "We're out looking for them."  
  
"I'll let you know if I see or hear from them, but I'm hoping this is pretty much over for tonight. My guys are beat," Lieutenant Anderson told the officers.  
  
"Yeah - I hear that," Bosco said, feeling his own fatigue.  
  
"Hey, Lieu!" called Jimmy from the doorway to the building as the flames were licking at the front of the building through the broken window.  
  
"Yeah!" the Lieutenant called back, heading over toward his men. Sully and Bosco watched, periodically checking the crowd for signs of trouble.  
  
"Sully!" called the Lieutenant.  
  
"Yeah, Lieu?" Sully answered and the Lieutenant motioned him over.  
  
Sully walked toward the building, the heat increasing the closer he got. "This look like one of your's?" he asked Sully as Jimmy held up a portable radio, partially melted from the heat. "We found it in the doorway," Jimmy said.  
  
Sully touched the radio, but it was too hot to hold without the protective gloves the firefighters were wearing. "Turn it over," Sully told Jimmy. He looked at the back of the radio to get the unit number. "Crap! Our guys might be in there," Sully said, with a sickened feeling.  
  
"Bosco!" he said, hurrying over toward him.  
  
"What?" Bosco said, as he was having words with a couple of young punks that were mouthing off. He looked at Sully's face and immediately knew something was wrong.  
  
"I think our guys are in there," he said, looking back at the building. "Doherty found a portable, with our house numbers on it," he added, keying his own portable.  
  
"Central, this is 55-David. Patch me through to Lieutenant Swersky," he requested.  
  
"10-4. Standby," came the dispatcher's voice. A moment later, he heard the Lieutenant's voice on the radio.  
  
"This is Swersky, go David," he answered.  
  
"Lieu, FD found a portable police radio in the doorway of the fire they're working here at 148th and 98th. Check with the desk and find out who signed out radio number 55-443," Sully told him.  
  
"Standby, David," the Lieutenant said. A moment later he was back on. "That radio was signed out to Officer Gusler."  
  
"10-4. You better start EMS and yourself down here, Lieu. This building's fully involved. I don't know if FD can even enter yet," Sully said somberly, as Bosco turned toward the building and watched Doherty and D.K. trying to gain access to search.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
TBC... 


	4. Chapter 4

Missing  
  
Chapter 4  
  
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As soon as Sully was done advising the Lieutenant about the situation, both he and Bosco immediately darted around to the back of the building to see if they could find a way in. Flames were now shooting out of the barred windows facing the alley and the rear of the building. Bosco and Sully could feel the intense heat as they tried to get close, but were pushed back.  
  
It was obvious they wouldn't be able to get to anyone from that way so the two officers ran back around to the front of the building to see if Jimmy and DK had been able to make any progress. As they rounded the corner, they could see that EMS and numerous police units were arriving on the scene, but there still wasn't any additional fire units yet.  
  
Bosco heard the Lieutenant Anderson yelling into his radio to expedite their help. "We believe we have at least two people - police officers - trapped in this fully involved building. We need help forthwith!" he finished.  
  
The dispatcher heard the desperation in his voice and, trying to calm everyone down replied in as calm a tone as possible, "Message received Lieutenant. We have units in route and they should be arriving momentarily. Repeat, units ARE in route."  
  
Bosco was looking for Jimmy, but didn't find him. "Where's Doherty?" he yelled to no one in particular.  
  
"Over there!" Kim pointed and called to him as she and Doc retrieved equipment to have ready when the officers were brought out. Bosco followed her finger and saw that Jimmy was climbing onto a backhoe that was parked at a construction site a few buildings down. After a moment, Bosco watched as a belch of black smoke appeared from the machine's exhaust and began moving after Jimmy had figured out a way to get it started.  
  
Jimmy maneuvered the machine over to the building that was on fire and Lieutenant Anderson jumped onto it and was talking with Jimmy. After a moment, the Lieutenant jumped down and personnel began moving themselves and their vehicles away from the building.  
  
Sully and Bosco, along with the other police units on the scene, started clearing the entire block as Jimmy maneuvered the equipment into position. As everyone looked on, Jimmy moved closer with the machine and gently, as gently as you could with heavy equipment, struck the side of the building a few times. A whole began to open up and then he lifted the bucket so that he was able to stick the forked edge of it into the whole and pull the wall of the building out toward the sidewalk. Immediately, hot embers floated into the air as well as flames and smoke as they were supplied with a new route to travel. After the initial blast of the flames from the opening, the fire, not having much left to burn, seemed to ebb somewhat.   
  
DK took advantage of the this and he and Billy worked their way into the building, hitting their knees and crawling around as other fire units appeared on the scene. The hoseline that Jimmy and DK had stretched was immediately grabbed by the new personnel, in addition to new hoses stretched, and the firefighters went about the task of trying to douse the flames.  
  
After what seemed an eternity, but was really only a few minutes, DK and Billy came back out, each carrying an unconscious officer over their shoulder. As soon as they emerged, the Lieutenant gave the order for all personnel to vacate the building, fearing collapse.  
  
Kim and Doc immediately began assessing the officers and they were soon on their way to the hospital.  
  
The firefighters went about the task of putting out the fire and were ready to return to service at about daybreak. Jimmy and DK were sent over to Mercy to get some minor burns and scrapes checked out from their attempts to get into the building.  
  
*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^  
  
The ambulances rolled into the emergency entrance of Mercy Hospital with two teams of trauma staff standing by waiting for them. Now, Bosco, Sully and Davis sat in the waiting room as the NYPD officials began to arrive, as well as fellow officers of the 5-5. Davis had just been on his way out; the Chief of Patrol's girlfriend's surgery was finished and she was in recovery. He'd run into the two officers and now sat with them to await news.  
  
"Any news?" D.K. asked as he and Jimmy approached Bosco when they got to the hospital.  
  
"Nah. Nothin' yet," he answered. "Families are on their way in."  
  
The firefighters nodded and somberly went to the triage desk to be taken care of. "We'll check back," Jimmy said quietly before they left.  
  
"Jimmy," Bosco called to him and he turned. "Good thinking. That thing with the backhoe," he elaborated.  
  
"Thanks. It was the only thing I could think of. I knew we couldn't wait for backup to get there," Jimmy said, giving a wave and turning back toward the desk.  
  
"Bos?" came the quiet, concerned voice from off to the side. He turned to look and saw Faith standing there. She looked awful. Her hair was all disheveled and her eyes were still red from crying. He watched her look at him, Sully and Davis. He stood up slowly and walked toward her.  
  
"God, please let Fred be okay," he thought to himself as he looked at how lost she seemed.  
  
"Faith? How's Fred?" he asked concerned, but coolly, still stinging from her earlier words.  
  
"Um, he's holding on. They're gonna have to do some heart surgery. It's pretty serious," she said, tears forming again as she thought about it.  
  
"But, he was healthy otherwise," he encouraged. "The kids okay?" he asked.  
  
"Um, yeah. Emily's more together than I am," she said with a half-laugh and Bosco smiled tiredly. He'd been up for almost two straight days now and he was starting to feel it.  
  
"You're okay?" Faith asked, looking at the three of them again, but bringing her gaze back to meet his.  
  
"Yeah," he said.  
  
"I heard it on the news in the waiting room. They didn't say who it was and then I saw our unit on the news and I thought...," she said, not finishing the sentence.  
  
"No. We're fine," he said, turning toward Sully. "It's Christopher and Gusler. They're pretty bad. They were trapped in there. Jimmy had to knock the wall down with a backhoe so they could get in. We're just waiting to hear," he finished.  
  
"God. Christopher and Gusler?" Faith said, puzzled.  
  
"Yeah, we don't really know how THAT happened," he said, rolling his eyes slightly and getting a smirk from Faith. She knew there was no love lost between Bosco and both Christopher and Gusler, although he'd never want anything like this to happen.  
  
There was an awkward silence and then Faith tried again, "Bos. About before," she said, but he cut her off, not ready to deal with that issue. It was still too fresh.  
  
"You better get back to Fred and the kids. Let me know how he's doing. We'll get word to you about them," he said, nodding toward the ER where the injured officers were being treated.   
  
"Oh. Okay," she said, somewhat flustered. Looking him directly in the eyes, she again said, "Thanks, Bos."  
  
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TBC... 


	5. Chapter 5

Missing  
  
Chapter 5  
  
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Bosco sat and watched the families of the two officers as they were led into their loved ones. He watched as a doctor came out to speak with the NYPD officials, including Lt. Swersky and he watched the expression on the Lieutenant's face.  
  
"Something happened," he said quietly to Sully and Davis, who were seated next to him. The two officers looked at Bosco and followed his gaze to the group at the end of the hall. They watched as the Lieutenant ran a hand through his hair and then they heard crying from the end of the hall.  
  
"Dammit," Bosco said, standing up and walking over to look out the window. They knew that someone hadn't made it. Now it was just a matter of finding out who it was. They were both critical, both unconcscious, and both had injuries and burns when they were pulled from the fire.  
  
Sully watched Bosco walk over to the window and looked back at Ty, who was still watching the scene at the end of the hallway.  
  
"You had any sleep yet, Bosco?" Sully asked him. The only response he got was the back of Bosco's head shaking to indicate that he had not. Sully noticed some blood from the earlier gunshot victim still on Bosco's uniform. Their attention was pulled back to the end of the hallway as the crying got a little louder. Now both families were crying.  
  
"Jesus Christ," Bosco said through his teeth this time, sitting back down again. He was sitting forward, arms resting on his knees and looking down at the floor between his feet when he noticed Sully and Davis stand up. He looked up to see the Lieutenant walking toward them and he stood up also.  
  
As the Lieutenant reached the three of them, Jimmy and D.K. came back out after being checked out and joined them as other officers walked over to them to listen also.  
  
"Christopher didn't make it. His injuries were too severe. Gusler's critical. They don't know if he'll make it either. He's still unconscious," the Lieutenant said as he turned to walk away from the group.  
  
"Lieu?" Bosco said, following him. He caught up to him and Swersky stopped and turned toward him.  
  
"How's Yokas' husband?" he asked, suddenly remembering that he'd gotten a call from Bosco earlier about bringing her and Fred into the ER.  
  
Bosco shook his head. "I don't know. He's gotta have some heart surgery. He's pretty sick too."  
  
"Shouldn't you be with her?" Swersky asked, wondering why Bosco wasn't with his partner and had been at the station earlier and able to go look for the missing officers.  
  
"She...," he said pausing. "She wanted some time by herself, Lieu. I went and picked up her kids and then she wanted to be with them," was all he said. The Lieutenant didn't need to hear all that other crap. At least not now.   
  
The Lieutenant nodded.  
  
"Have we got any information on what they were doing there?" Bosco asked, referring to Gusler and Christopher.  
  
The senior officer shook his head. "No. Christopher never woke up. Gusler woke up for a minute, but then he went unconscious again. The only thing he did was call out for Christopher."  
  
"I've gotta go make some phone calls, Bosco. You should go home and get cleaned up and get some rest. You look like hell," the Lieutenant told him and walked away to find a phone, leaving Bosco standing by himself in the hallway. He looked into the room directly ahead of him and saw Faith, Emily and Charlie sitting in chairs. Faith sat in the chair, her head against the wall, eyes closed, but tearstains still on her cheeks. She had that frown she always got when she had a headache. Charlie was asleep across Faith's lap and Emily was sitting in the corner, staring straight ahead, her bookbag in her lap, grasped tightly in her hand.  
  
As if she knew that Bosco was there, Faith opened her eyes and made direct eye contact with him. He walked to the doorway so that she didn't have to get up and quietly said, "Christopher didn't make it. Gusler's critical. No one knows what happened yet." With that said, he turned and walked back down the hallway, leaving Faith with a bigger knot in her stomach. She knew she was wrong for yelling at him. She knew she'd hurt him. She'd have to find a way to make amends, but she just couldn't handle any more right now.  
  
*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*  
  
Bosco walked down the hallway and looked into the examination room where Gusler was being treated. There was only a nurse with him right now - no family or NYPD members. He walked to the doorway and looked at the battered officer, listening to the monitor beeping and the ventilator pushing air into his lungs.  
  
"You can come in, Officer," the nurse said, noticing him standing there.   
  
"What?" he said, breaking his gaze from the officer.  
  
"I said you can come in if you want," she repeated.  
  
"No. Thanks," he said and turned to walk away. He walked back toward Sully and Davis and looked into the next room as he walked by. He stopped and stared at the stretcher with Sgt. Christopher's body on it, a sheet covering him. His thoughts were broken by the sound of Ty's voice from the end of the hallway.  
  
"Bosco!" he called. Bosco looked at him. "Everyone's heading down to Haggerty's. You want a ride?"  
  
Bosco took a last look at Christopher and then walked toward Davis. "Drop me at the House so I can change and then I'll meet you guys there, okay?"  
  
"Yeah, Man. Let's go," Ty said, looking at Bosco as he walked by him.  
  
"You okay, Bos?" he asked. It wasn't like Bosco to be so quiet. He had an opinion about everything.  
  
"Yeah, Ty. Just whipped," was all Bosco said as they walked out of the hospital.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
TBC... 


	6. Chapter 6 CONCLUSION

Missing  
  
Chapter 6 - Conclusion  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Bosco woke slowly, his bedroom still dark. He had no idea what day it was, let alone what time of day. He only knew that he was in his room because he heard the familiar sound of his shower dripping just off his bedroom. He didn't even remember coming into his apartment - let alone how he drove home without crashing.  
  
Faith - he immediately thought of Faith and he got a tight feeling in his stomach along with tightness in his chest. He glanced over to the phone with the answering machine to see if there was a light flashing to indicate that he had a message. Nothing. He looked over to his alarm clock and saw that it was 5:00. "Is it 5:00 AM or PM?" he thought out loud and then sat up quickly worried that he'd missed work. He jumped up and looked out the window to see that the sun was just coming up. He watched for a few minutes as the garbage truck came down the alley and picked up the deposits left by the residents of the building.  
  
"Shit," he thought to himself as he realized that his overflowing garbage can in the kitchen was still there. He sat back on his bed, trying to wake up fully. He rubbed his face, feeling the growth of whiskers and scratched his head. He stood up and grabbed a pair of sweats from his dresser and pulled them on. He slowly walked up the hallway to his living room and looked at the mess.   
  
"Looks like I clean today," he said out loud to no one. He picked up the remote and punched the button to turn on the television. Throwing the remote onto the couch, he walked into the kitchen to make himself some coffee, again mentally kicking himself as he looked at the full garbage can. A chill ran through him as he stepped off the rug and onto the cold kitchen floor with bare feet. He prepared the coffee pot and flipped the switch as the sound of the newscaster reporting on the recent blackout.   
  
"Officials are still trying to locate the exact cause of the outage. However, it is believed that an animal may have gotten into the main breaker and shorted it out. Others are unconvinced that it is not another act of terrorism..." the reporter said, then sending the audience back to the studio and the news anchor with an ID picture of Jason Christopher on the screen behind him.  
  
"In related news, the New York City Police Department will be completing plans for honoring one of their own - fallen by the riots that surrounded the blackout. Sergeant Jason Christopher succumbed to injuries sustained during the performance of his duties when he and his partner were ambushed by an angry mob and beaten. The building they were left in was then set ablaze and it took firefighters, spread thin by the riots, using nearby construction equipment to rescue the two men from the fully involved building. Sgt. Christopher's partner at the time, rookie Patrolman Steven Gusler, remains in critical condition at Angel of Mercy Hospital. Details on Sgt. Christopher's services will be passed on when they are finalized. As always when something like this happens, our hearts and prayers go out to those brave men and women who serve and protect us, as well as to their families," finished the anchor solemnly and then they faded to a commercial.  
  
Tired of waiting for the coffee to finish brewing, Bosco removed the pot and put his coffee cup under the stream of coffee pouring from the machine. He looked in his refrigerator and pulled out an almost empty carton of milk. Opening it, he smelled it and decided that not everything in his refrigerator survived the blackout. Recoiling from the smell of the spoiled milk, he threw the carton into the sink. He took a sip of the black coffee and made a face, dumping the coffee into the sink.  
  
Bosco picked up the phone after looking up the number of the hospital. He dialed information and asked about the condition of Fred Yokas and Steven Gulser. He was told that both were in serious condition. He thanked the woman providing the information and hung up the phone - his hand still resting on the phone for a moment. He turned and walked down the hallway, deciding that a hot shower was needed.  
  
*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*  
  
Lieutenant Swersky had finished giving out the information at roll call and had dismissed the officers to begin patrol. Bosco was talking with Davis when the Lieutenant called to him.  
  
"Boscorelli! Can I see you for a minute?" the Lieutenant called to him.  
  
"Yes, Sir," Bosco replied, nodding to Davis. "Later," he told the other officer as he turned and walked to the front of the room.  
  
"Lieu?" Bosco said as he reached his boss.  
  
"Boscorelli. You sure you're up to working today? You look like hell. If you need a day off, let me know," the Lieutenant said.  
  
"No, Sir. I'm fine," Bosco said, unaware that he looked so bad.  
  
"Have you talked to Yokas? How's her husband doing?" the Lieutenant asked.  
  
"Um, I haven't talked to her today. But, last time I talked to her, she said he needed heart surgery," Bosco said vaguely.  
  
"Everything okay between you two?" the Lieutenant asked him, sensing something was wrong.  
  
"Yes, Sir. Just a tough time for her. I'm gonna stop by the hospital later on," he said, not sure if he had the guts to stop by or not - or whether she wanted him to or not.  
  
"You hear anything about Gusler?" Bosco asked him.  
  
Lieutenant Swersky nodded. "Yeah, he's awake, but still serious."  
  
"He tell you anything about what happened? Why they were there?" Bosco asked.  
  
"He only said that Christopher ordered him to go with him. Said he'd gotten a call about officers in distress. That's all we know," the Lieutenant said.  
  
Bosco nodded. "He gonna be able to come back?"  
  
"Not on the streets. He's still exploring his options. He can probably work the desk, but he lost vision in his left eye, so he won't be able to return to patrol," the Lieutenant told him.  
  
"Damn," Bosco said. "Hey, he was good at drawing. Remember he drew that bank robber's picture and it was right on, even with only a quick look at the guy," Bosco said. "Maybe he could be a police sketch artist," Bosco suggested.  
  
"Yeah, I remember that. We'll see," the Lieutenant said.  
  
"Well, guess I'll hit the street," Bosco said.  
  
"Yeah. Be careful," the Lieutenant said, knowing that he was riding without a partner.  
  
"Thanks," Bosco said, leaving to begin his patrol, thoughts of his partner in his mind as he walked out of the precinct house.  
  
*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*  
  
It was two days later and Bosco was standing in dress uniform next to Jason Christopher's flag-draped casket. Faith, Sully and Davis were standing at attention - the rest of those in attendance in formation around them. Bosco had been asked to be a pallbearer at the funeral - much to his surprise. But, he was honored to do so even though the two men rarely saw eye-to-eye.  
  
As he turned to proceed with the casket, his gaze landed on Faith who was looking back at him. "Would things ever be the same between them?" he thought to himself as he proceeded along with the ceremony to put one of their own to rest.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
The End. 


End file.
